A tall figure leaned behind a large tree.
His hair was disheveled, his face grimy and unshaven. His gray robe was in tatters, its cuffs worn and frayed.
He looked even more down-and-out than a beggar.
This man was none other than Tang Hao.
Tang San was absorbing his first soul ring, and Tang Hao had been too worried to leave him alone. He had followed him all the way from Nuoding Academy to the Soul Hunting Forest.
"A hundred-year Mandala Snake. Not bad."
"And that other boy actually got a six-hundred-year first soul ring!"
Tang Hao's lips twitched, but the surprise in his eyes quickly faded.
Had he met Yu Chen twenty years ago, he would have brought him into the Clear Sky Sect, even if he had to trick or kidnap him.
But now...
"With a Soul Ancestor protecting him, how could a hundred-year soul beast possibly hurt little San? I shouldn't have come. Two days without a drink, and my whole body feels out of sorts."
Tang Hao smacked his lips in displeasure.
He reached for the wine gourd at his waist, but it had long since run dry.
The next instant, however, his clouded eyes abruptly sharpened, and he darted sideways.
Boom-!
A blast of soul power tore through the air, grazed the hem of his robe, and slammed into the tree, whose trunk took several people to encircle.
Crack!
The trunk burst apart in the middle, sending wood chips flying as the entire tree crashed to the ground.
"Who's there?!"
Tang Hao's gaze turned icy.
Not far away, a black-robed man stood in the shadows.
His hood was pulled low. Though he had not released his martial soul, a surging pressure emanated from him.
"A Titled Douluo."
Tang Hao forced the words through clenched teeth, his heart sinking.
His soul power is no lower than mine!
"To think a tiny place like Nuoding City would be hiding a Titled Douluo."
Di Tian swept his gaze over Tang Hao and said mockingly, "You're still alive despite such severe injuries?"
Tang Hao wasted no words.
Whoosh!
He kicked off the ground and shot forward.
With a twist of his right hand, the Clear Sky Hammer martial soul materialized out of thin air.
Its millstone-sized head was etched with dark-gold patterns, and its appearance brought a force that could topple mountains and overturn seas.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Nine soul rings lit up beneath Tang Hao's feet, one after another.
Two yellow, two purple, four black-and the final ring was a blinding blood-red!
A Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring!
"What rich life energy. No wonder you've managed to hold on."
Di Tian appraised Tang Hao's ninth soul ring, showing not the slightest sign of preparing for battle.
"Enough of your tricks! Die!"
Tang Hao raised the Clear Sky Hammer high. Wind howled around it, pressing the fallen leaves on the ground into a vortex.
Yet Di Tian neither dodged nor retreated. He simply extended his right hand at an unhurried pace.
That hand was covered in black scales, its five hooked fingers gleaming with a cold metallic sheen. It was a dragon claw.
Clang!
The Clear Sky Hammer struck the dragon claw as though it had hit a mountain of iron. The claw did not budge.
Boom-!
The recoil surged back through the hammer's handle.
Tang Hao spat out a mouthful of blood and flew backward, tumbling more than a dozen meters across the ground.
"A ferocious beast!"
Tang Hao stared at Di Tian's dragon claw, his pupils contracting sharply.
Ah Yin had once told him that a hundred thousand years was not the end of a soul beast's cultivation.
Once a soul beast survived a lightning tribulation, it was called a ferocious beast. It could freely assume human form, and its strength far exceeded that of an ordinary Titled Douluo.
"Damn it!"
Tang Hao gritted his teeth, ready to unleash all his power.
The Clear Sky Hammer's greatest strength lay not in its soul skills, but in the secret arts of Clear Sky.
With Ring Detonation, even the level-ninety-five Qian Xunji had died at his hands!
But Di Tian looked down at Tang Hao and said coldly, "Human, I have no interest in killing you right now. Of course, if you insist on seeking death, you're welcome to try."
His task was to protect Yu Chen without interfering with his life.
Though Tang Hao barely had a breath left in him, a desperate struggle would still cause quite a commotion.
Yu Chen and his companions had not gone far yet.
"Human, leave this place. You are not to return for at least three to five years."
Di Tian issued his command.
He did not care why Tang Hao was hiding here. Anything that threatened Yu Chen would not be allowed to remain.
At those words, Tang Hao's expression immediately darkened.
How many years had it been?
Ever since he became a Titled Douluo, no one had dared speak to him like this.
"Phew..."
He drew a deep breath, suppressing his emotions.
He was severely injured and no match for his opponent.
If he died here, what would happen to Tang San?
This man must be the guardian of that soul beast who took human form, Tang Hao thought.
Xiao Wu's figure surfaced in his mind.
How could a hundred-thousand-year soul beast still in her juvenile stage appear in a human city without a powerful protector?
Watching Di Tian's retreating back, Tang Hao could not help clenching his fists.
Di Tian's single blow had caused all his old injuries to flare up.
He would have to leave for a while and find a healing-type Soul Master to treat him.
Nuoding Academy.
Three days had passed since Yu Chen returned.
That day, when he and Tang San returned to Dorm Seven, Wang Sheng had jumped up and down in excitement, shouting at the top of his lungs, "The work-study students are finally going to turn things around!"
The next day, Wang Sheng dragged them off to fight the upper-year students.
Xiao Chenyu received a thorough beating and surrendered on the spot, agreeing to take over all the work-study students' chores from then on.
Now, life had settled back into its peaceful routine.
Back Mountain.
"Xiao Bai, use Hurricane!"
Yu Chen gave the command, his eyes gleaming.
Xiao Bai Dragon rose into the air and spread her silver wings. White whirlwinds came howling forth.
Crack-!
The gale swept forward. Branches and leaves snapped off several crooked trees in a flurry of cracks, littering the ground as the trunks swayed and tilted.
Yu Chen raised a hand to shield his eyes. His clothes snapped in the wind, and his hair streamed wildly behind him.
After a while, the wind died down.
Yu Chen gathered Xiao Bai Dragon into his arms and hefted her.
The little one did not look very big, but she was quite heavy.
"Xiao Bai, what kind of martial soul are you, exactly? How are you so powerful?"
Yu Chen spoke with delighted surprise.
Hurricane was stronger than an ordinary Soul Master's second soul skill!
And it was an area-of-effect attack.
After absorbing the Gale Griffin's soul ring, Yu Chen had named his first soul skill Wind Element.
It was not a soul skill in the traditional sense. Instead, it strengthened Xiao Bai Dragon's control over the wind element.
With just a few simple experiments, Xiao Bai had already mastered three skills.
The first skill: [Hurricane]
An area-of-effect attack soul skill.
The second skill: [Flight]
Ordinary flying-type Soul Masters, such as those with a Cat Owl martial soul, needed at least two soul rings to fly, but Xiao Bai could use the wind element to take flight.
Yu Chen had already tested it. By holding on to Xiao Bai's feet, he could fly for a short time too.
But it consumed a great deal of soul power, so he could only sustain it for a few minutes.
The third skill: [Wind Speed]
A burst of soul power increased her speed by one hundred percent for a short time.
On the Douluo Continent, speed was power.
Charging at full speed, Xiao Bai could instantly slice through a tree whose trunk took two people to encircle.
Xiao Bai Dragon turned her head aside, her purple slit pupils brimming with disdain.
"I am the Silver Dragon King, the Elemental God! Even if I told you, you wouldn't understand."
Gu Yuena snorted inwardly.
Controlling the elements was as simple as breathing to her.
She needed only a trace of wind element as the key to unlock her power. Wind Blade, Wind Shield, and flight were all instinctive; she did not need to deliberately learn them.
Once she gathered the four elements of fire, wind, earth, and water, she could also unleash Elemental Tide, making the elements of heaven and earth resonate.
During the great battle in the Divine Realm back then, no one below the rank of First-Level God had been able to withstand that move.
Xiao Bai Dragon possessed an innate fire element, so Gu Yuena had chosen a wind-type soul beast for her first soul ring.
Once Yu Chen reaches godhood, I'll fully merge with this martial soul. Perhaps then I'll be able to fight the Asura God!
At that thought, anticipation she had not felt in a long time welled up in Gu Yuena's heart.
"Awooo-!"
Xiao Bai Dragon threw back her head and let out a long howl that shook the mountain forest.
"Haha, Xiao Bai, you seem happy too."
Yu Chen narrowed his eyes and laughed heartily.
He did not know Xiao Bai contained another soul. He merely assumed she had understood him and was excited too.
"Xiao Bai, you have both fire and wind attributes now. If you can combine them, your soul skills will definitely become much stronger."
Yu Chen spoke while stroking his chin.
He had worked at Professor Oak's Laboratory for more than a decade and learned a great deal.
Wind fanned the flames.
This was the most basic training method.
Yu Chen crouched down and gestured with both hands. "Blow wind first, then breathe fire. Let the wind carry the fire forward, like cracking a whip. The faster it goes, the harder it hits."
Xiao Bai Dragon tilted her head, as though trying to understand his words.
Then she flapped her wings-
Whoosh-!
A gale swept out, immediately followed by a ball of crimson flame rolling from her throat. Wrapped in the wind, it surged forward.
The fire stretched into a long, impressive-looking streak.
But after traveling only a few meters, the flame began to sway violently in the wind. It flickered a few times, then went out with a puff.
Yu Chen frowned. "Slow down. Don't rush. Pay close attention to how the wind and fire work together."
Xiao Bai Dragon tried a second time.
The gale was a little gentler, but the flames were too fierce, showing none of the qualities of a wind-and-fire combination.
The third attempt was even worse.
The gale and flames collided in midair, bursting into a wave of heat that sent Yu Chen stumbling backward in alarm.
Hehe!
Gu Yuena watched Yu Chen's bedraggled state with inward delight.
She had botched the third experiment on purpose.
Yu Chen was always smacking her bottom. This time, it was her turn to teach him a little lesson.
Wind and fire could not truly merge in the first place.
Fire had no roots. It could not hold its ground in the wind and scattered with a single gust.
Unless the wood element was added as a medium. Unfortunately, she was not skilled at controlling the wood element.
"Where did it go wrong?"
"Wind fans the flames. That principle isn't wrong. Why does the fire go out as soon as the wind blows? How can I make wind and fire strengthen each other instead of canceling each other out?"
"Could the two worlds have different rules?"
Yu Chen was not discouraged. He sat down cross-legged, propped his chin in his hand, and stared blankly at the sky.
Before you continue